Python enumerate() With Examples [Latest]

Python enumerate()

Python enumerate takes a sequence, and then make each element of the sequence into a tuple. The first element of the tuple is the index number. And the second element of the tuple is the value of the sequence.

So, in short, we can say that enumerate adds a counter with the element of a sequence. The basic syntax of python enumerate function is given below.

1. enumerate(sequence) : This enumerate function make a enumerate object where index starts from 0.
2. enumerate(sequence, i): This makes an enumerate object where the index starts from i.

Python Enumerate List

In this section, we will see an example to create an enumerate object from a list or any other sequence. In the previous section, we learned about enumerate function which converts a sequence to enumerate object. Let’s see the following example.

# initialize a list of list
data = ['Love', 'Hate', 'Death', 123, ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Trudy']]
# print the type of variable 'data'
print('The type of data is :', type(data))  # output is 'list'
data = enumerate(data)
# again, print the type of variable 'data'
print('The type of data is now :', type(data))  # output is 'enumerate'

The output of the following code will be

Accessing Python Enumerate Object

We can access the enumerate object. We can use for loop to access the enumerate object. Or, we can convert the enumerate object to a list object.

Then we can traverse the list like we did in our python list tutorial. Let’s have a look to the following example to understand this.

# initialize a list of list
data = ['Love', 'Hate', 'Death', 123, ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Trudy']]
# make an enumerate object
enumObject = enumerate(data)
# access the enumerate object using loop
for element in enumObject:
    print(element)
print('nStart index is changed to 100:')
# change the start index of the list to 100
enumObject = enumerate(data, 100)
# access the enumerate object using loop
for element in enumObject:
    print(element)

Output:

(0, 'Love')
(1, 'Hate')
(2, 'Death')
(3, 123)
(4, ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Trudy'])
Start index is changed to 100:
(100, 'Love')
(101, 'Hate')
(102, 'Death')
(103, 123)
(104, ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Trudy'])

So, that’s the basics of Python enumerate function. Usually you may not need it always but it’s not bad to know about new things. For any query regarding this topic, please use the comment box. Happy coding. 🙂

Reference: Official Documentation